Listen, there is a time and place for me to be concerned with the state of comics and what makes a great one, a good one and an okay one. There is a time when I can hem and haw about how I felt about something, writing post after post about how my expectations just weren’t met, or about how my expectations were met and, possibly, exceeded. There are times when I can be as objective as possible and leave my emotions at the door.

This, my friends, is not one of them. Seriously, Owly is the kind of book you read when you are having a bad day and you need remember just how cute life can be. Look, I’m biased. I have a very fashionable affinity for owls. Even these creepy ones. Call it a throwback to Harry Potter. Blame it on this video. Blame it on this blog. Whatever the reason, Owly was probably written for me.

It’s about an owl. Who rescues a worm. Then they go on adventures together. If there ever was a definition squee, this would probably be it.

Andy Runton probably draws the cutest comics I could imagine. He doesn’t use many words, instead relies on his images and onomatopoeic words to tell Owly’s story. Some comics would suffer from this, but not Owly. Because you know what a lack of words does for this comic? Angry eyes! The cutest angry eyes I have ever seen. That’s the whole reason I chose the picture on the right. This isn’t even from The Way Home & The Bittersweet Summer, but it was the best illustration of angry eyes I could find.

I will be reading this entire series, saving them for when life gets me down and I need a happy reminder that there are things in this world that are so adorable you audibly squeal with glee. (Wait, is that what squee is actually defined as? Because I just figured that out. Whoa! I just thought it was that sound everyone made when things were cute.)

In an interview with Connect Savannah (quoted at Largehearted Boy, the original article seems to be gone), Andy Runton said this:

Connect Savannah: Why do you think people relate to Owly?

Andy Runton: People relate to Owly because he’s this predator by nature, but he chooses to be kind and nice and make the world a better place. That’s rare these days. For me he’s sort of based on all the stuff I loved as a kid, wrapped it up into this little owl.

Another reason people like it is they can sense I enjoy it. There’s a certain amount of purity that comes with that. Other than that I really have no idea. He’s just a little owl and it’s just me.

Yup, that pretty much sums it up.

So go read this!: now | tomorrow | next week | next month | next year | when you’ve read everything else

Book Dads and The Book Vault have posts about Owly. Do you? Link to it in the comments and I’ll add your post here.